$1.2 SNG Review

I hope this is how I should be posting a tourney.

"http://www.flopturnriver.com/Online-Poker-Tournament-6145.html"

I don't think you should have included the inverted commas. Hopefully this will work:

$1.10 Buy In

I dont have rights to post links so to get arround them I put it in quotes. So if you copy and paste everything but the quotes in your browser it will take you to the tourney.

My thoughts:

#2: I wouldn't bother defending yet here
#3: I guess the limp is ok. I wouldn't bet flop with so many people acting after you and the board so drawy.
#4: fold
#5: fold
#6: fold
#7: bet more on the flop with the possible flush draw out there
#9: wow look for this guy and play with him more often
#10: raise to steal if you're going to play it, but I probably fold
#14: raise, don't limp here
#17: doesn't get much better than this
#18: raise with the big stack, no need to limp
#19: aces again??
#22: probably don't need to raise this much, I wouldn't bother varying your raise size at a SnG (esp. $1)

Good patience heads up.

I need to post a tourney I play in where i wasnt getting great cards and having them hold up. it is hard to lose when that happens.

In theory I agree with the few observations you made about my passive play at times, it just seems that at this low level game it is ok to play slightly passive and wait for strong hands because you are gonna get paid for them, rather than commiting a lot of chips to the pot before the hand is made.

unfortunately I have only played about 30 tourneys so i have no long term history to say that my style of play is profitable but at thirty tourneys I have been in the money roughly 65% of the time and have a 63% ROI. Again this is a microscopic number to take any long term %'s from but whenever I play more aggressively early game my ITM% goes way down. I will post some tourneys where i lose and also where I win but am not handed AA's all over the place and my low pp's trip all over the place.

Again great feedback, I really appreciate your time.

you think AA two times in a tourney is cool. How about kk 7 or 8 times and if I remember correctly they won every single time, sometimes for large pots. I will try to find that tourney and post it. Obviously I took first, how do you not.

Couple of overall comments:

- You are limping too many marginal hands from early/mid position early in the tourney. You'd be surprised how tight you really need to be when in early position, don't limp crappy hands.
- Bet sizing needs attention. In general you should be betting between 50% and 100% of the pot postflop rather than making tiny bets or overbets. In general, there is no need to bet full pot either, usually 2/3-3/4 pot as a flop bet is plenty.

1. AJo - I'd just dump this from EP with the UTG limper already in the hand.

2. K9s - fold preflop, one really important consideration is that you are OOP for the rest of the hand.

3. KTs - fold preflop, KTs is a really marginal hand from early-mid position. If you were on the button I'd recommend raising it if you were first in however

4. 52o - fold preflop. With 20x BB you need to preserve your stack, not whittle it away with a garbage hand, even getting massive preflop pot odds.

5. K2s - DEFINITE fold preflop. You cannot afford to piss away your stack with crappy hands like this that can have really bad reverse implied odds (ie. you lose a lot of chips on a K or flush board finding out you have the second best hand).

6. A8o - definite fold preflop.

7. KK - preflop is fine but you definitely want to make a bigger bet on the flop with the flush draw out there. You would feel sick if an A or a heart came on the turn when you've given such fantastic odds for opps to chase. I would either just shove the flop or bet half my stack on the flop with the other half in on the turn regardless of whatever comes.

8. K7o - preflop and flop are fine, but I'd call the turn bet and see what happens on the river.

9. AA - why make such a tiny bet on the turn? I'd just stick the rest of my chips in on the turn and be done with it. Opp isn't going away after putting almost 40% of his stack in the pot, and again you'd feel bad if the river came a J, Q or other broadway card.

10. K4s - fold preflop, or raise it to 180 if you want to play, don't limp here

11. 66 - I tend to just fold this preflop because you are in early position and if anybody raises you can't call and have odds to play for set value. As played, flop bet is fine but definitely check behind on the turn.

12. ATs - minor point, but just make it 180 to go, no need to raise to 210.

13. ATo - again, I'd make it 200 to go rather than minraise. As played, no need to bet full pot, 250 is plenty because you don't mind a call and that's enough to price out the flush draw.

17. 88 - preflop and your first flop bet is fine, but once you get raised I would re-raise on the flop rather than flatting. Again you'd feel sick if another came on the turn.

18. 75s - put the BB all in preflop. He won't call wide with the short stack around.

A 8 SB (Hero's M = 93.15; f+r+F) (between 19 and 20) - depending on how much opp raised, I would either call or shove back in his face - probably shove back

21. 52s - I'd fold it preflop. As played it's fine.

22. Q8o - 300 is plenty as a preflop raise.

23. K5o - bet is fine after opp checks but I'd bet 180 rather than 240.

24. 72o - raise or fold, I probably just fold it. As played, again 180 rather than 240 is fine.

25. KQo - 300 is plenty preflop

26. 77 - just put him AI preflop. If he calls and overcards come on the flop, what then?

27. AKo - again no need to bet full pot. (You didn't hit the "pot bet" button did you? If you did, never touch this button again!)

29. 83o - I'd fold this crap preflop. DBFPOTF (don't bet full pot on the flop)

30. 86s - DBFPOTF

6 Q Button (Hero's M = 38.77; F) (between 30 and 31) - I'd raise this one 2.5x BB

32. A2o - DBFPOTF otherwise it's fine

33. J4o - DBFPOTF

35. A2o - what's the point of betting less on the flop than you raised preflop? 650 if you want to bet it.

36. A9o - perfect, now THIS is how you should have played all those DBFPOTF hands.

37. AQo - I'd just shove back preflop to be honest, or if you want to 3-bet I'd make it 1200 to go. As played flop bet is fine as is the fold.

38. A9o - make it 400 to go preflop.

39. 33 - 400 to go preflop. DBFPOTF.

40. 62s - I'd only call if opp won't raise you back. As played it's fine.

42. KTo - not sure I'd shove over on the turn. You'll see trip aces here very often. I'd just call the check/minraise and take it from there.

I really appreciate the feedback. it is funny cuz i feel like I am playing pretty well but then I get a lot of corrections and it makes me wonder if I really am playing all that well. Several times you pointed out not pot betting on the flop, which is a pretty standard move for me whether I hit or not. Do you say not to do it because it is too large a bet and I can probably accomplish the same thing without putting so many chips at risk?

Excellent advice thanks.

Yeah I think 1/2-3/4 pot for a c-bet is enough in most cases if the board is safe. If you're trying to push people off a draw 3/4 pot is usually enough. Most reasonable draws you'd need 4:1 pot odds to call. If you bet 3/4 pot you still offer less than 3:1. You'll save chips by not overbetting. This of course assumes that if the draw hits you don't justify their call by giving them all of your chips very often.

Glad you're doing so well. My game has really gotten better over the last couple of months with all the advice I'm getting here. 60% ROI is really good, particularly with the rake so high in $1.20 tournies. Move up to the $2.25's when your bankroll allows it.

Pretty much what Manic said. If you have a strong hand on the flop, you want to bet enough to price the draws out but not so much that you chase them all away. You want to offer them an incorrect price to call you draw - when you do this and they call, you make money over the long run. If you are c-betting on the flop then you want to bet just enough to get the job done (ie. take the pot down) because if you get called or shoved over you just saved yourself some chips.

There are a very few limited circumstances where betting full pot (or more) makes sense but for the most part betting 1/2 to 3/4 pot is fine. My major objection to the "bet pot" button is that it is very lazy - whenever you make a bet you need to be thinking about what you want to achieve with it, and just mashing "bet pot" is contrary to this!